Touché, OCBC to launch 'highly secure' fingerprint-based credit card payments

LOCAL fintech company Touché is tying up with OCBC Bank to bring what it says is the world's first fingerprint biometric-based payment to credit card merchant customers in Singapore.

Touché will offer this service to all of OCBC's credit card merchants with physical stores.

According to the tech firm, its "innovative device and robust software" will deliver "highly secure, convenient and personalised point of sale transaction services at the touch of two fingers".

Touché's devices will be set up to accept both traditional card payments and fingerprint-based payments, so that merchants would not need to have multiple payment devices. Transactions will also be recorded electronically, with receipts being emailed, eliminating the use of paper.

In addition, points and discounts may be applied instantly for qualifying customers at the point of interaction, and merchants will be able to build a tiered loyalty programme that offers membership based benefits, Touché said. The firm's data analytics component also allows for merchants to create personalised offers based on customers' preferences and buying patterns.

For the consumers themselves, a one-time registration process is required where one can add in existing credit cards or membership cards, and link them to his or her fingerprints.

"Once registered, payments are completed in under four seconds at one touch, without the need for signature, pin number, card or mobile phone," Touché said.

Said OCBC's head of group lifestyle financing Desmond Tan: "This service enables an easy and secured platform that will improve the user experience for customers. It will make digital e-payments simpler and more accessible than using cash, and will help to drive Singapore's push towards becoming an e-payments society."

Separately, a survey by Visa released in March this year found that Singaporeans are keen on using biometric identification methods when it comes to ensuring secure transactions.

Of the 500 Singapore consumers polled, 96 per cent said they would like to use such methods for making payments. For most, the top perceived benefit is that this eliminates the need to remember multiple passwords and PIN numbers.

Currently, one in five Singaporeans use fingerprint authentication or facial recognition from their respective banks or mobile phone providers, Visa said.

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